Tag Archives: poem

“I shall go back again to the bleak shore” by Edna St. Vincent Millay [w/ Audio]

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I shall go back again to the bleak shore
  And build a little shanty on the sand,
  In such a way that the extremest band
  Of brittle seaweed will escape my door
 But by a yard or two; and nevermore
  Shall I return to take you by the hand;
  I shall be gone to what I understand,
  And happier than I ever was before.
 The love that stood a moment in your eyes,
  The words that lay a moment on your tongue,
  Are one with all that in a moment dies,
  A little under-said and over-sung.
 But I shall find the sullen rocks and skies
  Unchanged from what they were when I was young.

Pillbox Bunker [Tanka]

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pillbox bunker from
 a war a lifetime ago
  sits in a field.
 what the farmer must think
 as he plants around it.

“A Minor Bird” by Robert Frost [w/ Audio]

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I have wished a bird would fly away,
 And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door
 When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.
  The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong
   In wanting to silence any song.

“Autumn Within” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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It is autumn; not without,
   But within me is the cold.
 Youth and spring are all about;
   It is I that have grown old.

Birds are darting through the air,
   Singing, building without rest;
 Life is stirring everywhere,
   Save within my lonely breast.

There is silence: the dead leaves
   Fall and rustle and are still;
 Beats no flail upon the sheaves
   Comes no murmur from the mill.

Stand Strong [Haiku]

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overflown banks:
 trees stand strong
  against the flow.

Spring Snow [Haiku]

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late Spring:
 a dust of snow remains
  on green mountains.

“Soft as the massacre of Suns” (1127) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

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Soft as the massacre of Suns
 By Evening's Sabres slain

White Columns [Haiku]

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white columns
 rise from a mountain lake:
  once mighty pines.

Empty Pasture [Haiku]

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in woods' shade, 
 cattle sit or stand, &
  file barn-ward at dusk.

“The Human Abstract” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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Pity would be no more
 If we did not make somebody Poor;
 And Mercy no more could be
 If all were happy as we.

And mutual fear brings peace,
 Till the selfish loves increase;
 Then Cruelty knits a snare,
 And spreads his baits with care.

He sits down with holy fears,
 And waters the ground with tears;
 Then Humility takes its root
 Underneath his foot.

Soon spreads the dismal shade
 Of Mystery over his head;
 And the Catterpiller and Fly
 Feed on the Mystery.

And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
 Ruddy and sweet to eat;
 And the Raven his nest has made
 In its thickest shade.

The Gods of the earth and sea
 Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree;
 But their search was all in vain:
 There grows one in the Human Brain.